Mai Sato's concerns about human rights violations in Iran
UN Special Rapporteur Mai Sato expressed concern about human rights violations in Iran in a report.
Mai Sato, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, released a 21-page report on Wednesday, March 12, detailing widespread human rights violations in Iran. She highlighted “systematic discrimination against women and minorities, Christian citizens and converts to Christianity, as well as Baha’is.”
In her report on violations of the rights of minorities, the UN Special Rapporteur noted widespread and systematic discrimination against minorities and their limited access to basic citizenship rights, including employment and education, writing: “Women in these communities face particular challenges and experience multiple forms of discrimination based on their ethnicity, religion, gender and age. This discrimination is exacerbated by discriminatory domestic laws and creates systematic obstacles to their fundamental rights. This situation poses additional risks, including violence, particularly from law enforcement forces. During the reporting period, minority women activists faced political accusations and prosecutions aimed at silencing and suppressing these activists.
A Christian convert faces a set of discriminatory laws both because she is a woman and because she has changed her religion. On the other hand, access to higher education and employment for members of some religions in the Islamic Republic of Iran, especially the Baha'i community, remains severely limited.
In her report on prisoner conditions, prison mistreatment, and inhumane prison conditions, Mai Sato wrote: "Prisoners suffer from overcrowding, lack of sanitation, torture, ill-treatment, and lack of access to medical services. Many political and ideological prisoners are under severe physical and psychological pressure, and there are concerns about the lack of access to medical facilities for imprisoned Christian converts, including Mina Khajoui. Many of these prisoners have been imprisoned on charges of "propaganda against the regime."
He reported on the repression of journalists and protests by civil society activists, writing: "This repression includes widespread arrests, police brutality, and pressure on journalists, writers, and human rights defenders. Many of these citizens have also been imprisoned on charges of 'propaganda against the regime.'"
The UN Special Rapporteur, in his explanation of the report on the increase in executions, while referring to the high number of executions of women in Iran and the government's use of the death penalty, added: "Executions in Iran have increased significantly, and according to recorded reports, more than 900 executions were carried out by the Islamic Republic last year, which is very worrying." He strongly emphasized the abolition of the death penalty, especially for child offenders.
At the end of her report, Mai Sato made recommendations to improve the human rights situation in Iran as follows: "Civil liberties and judicial justice, gender equality and civil liberties, fair trials and observance of fair trial principles, including access to a lawyer at all stages of the trial and protection of prisoners and detainees from torture and ill-treatment, must be guaranteed. Minority rights also include ensuring equal treatment for all individuals, regardless of ethnicity, religion, language and political affiliation, creating equal opportunities in education and employment for all ethnic and religious minorities, and paying special attention to the rights of minority women and eliminating multiple layers of discrimination."
